Rex Airlines’ future uncertain in wake of trading halt
The future of regional airline Rex is hanging in the balance tonight. The company has suspended trading on the Australian stock market for a second day and is no longer taking bookings for flights on some routes. It has sparked concern in regional and rural areas and experts say Australia’s aviation industry is broken.
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00:00For Keena Creedon, flying to Perth for breast cancer treatment is critical.
00:07I need the airline personally. I don't mind if it's Rex or whoever it is, but we can't
00:11be left without an airline in our town.
00:14The 38-year-old is receiving ongoing care for an incurable form of the disease. Without
00:20an airline, she says her family couldn't continue living in Esperance.
00:24So we'd have to move our three kids. If we had to move to Perth, it would be a major,
00:30major thing for us.
00:32An impact being felt across the country. In Tasmania, FIFO workers like Hamish Wilson
00:38are calling on the government to act.
00:40Something needs to be done to help Rex out here, to provide more choice to customers
00:45in the domestic airline market.
00:47We will work with Rex. We want to make sure that they have a future as part of aviation
00:53in this country.
00:54Rex connects regional centres, many of them monopoly routes, which Qantas and Virgin don't
00:59cover.
01:00In 2020, they leased more planes after Virgin's corporate collapse to take on what's called
01:06the Golden Triangle, the lucrative but congested routes linking Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
01:13In 2022, Rex bought fly-in, fly-out specialist National Jet Express. Then in June, it opened
01:19more capital city routes.
01:22But that expansion is now looking like overreach in our tight aviation market. There are reports
01:28staff are locked out of hotels and transport, and Rex has stopped ticket sales on some routes.
01:33If we can't use Rex, it would be, it would make our life really hard actually.
01:39Qantas is way too expensive. I don't ever fly on Qantas.
01:43If administrators are called in, it will be the second collapse of a regional carrier
01:47this year, after Bonza folded in April.
01:51It is too important to fail and the government will have to act. It will have to act in the
01:54short term to support this company and that might have to be financial support.
01:59With the airline in administration, our connection to regional Australia and thousands of jobs
02:04hang in the balance.